Woe betide the unsuspecting
foreign player who waves an imaginary card…
There are double standards everywhere
in life but sadly they do appear to be particularly prevalent when it comes
to English football. And it all seems to centre on the concept of how the game operates in this country. Ever since I can remember, there’s been a perceived English way of playing football that’s
promoted with genuine zeal and pride; sold on the basis of morals, principles
and honour.
English players don’t dive.
English players love a tackle. English players are honest. And we certainly don’t
like Johnny Foreigner coming over here and bringing his “bad habits”.
In basic terms, there’s absolutely
nothing wrong with these ideals. Diving is embarrassing, and we all love to see
a good, strong, wholehearted tackle. But I think claiming these principles are
always adhered would be, at very best, naïve. Like with so many situations,
when someone feels they are directly involved or affected, sometimes their view
wavers…
For example, a common gripe
of the average football fan is that it’s not a “man’s game” anymore; that
proper tackles have become fouls in the modern game and players rolling around
pretending to be hurt is ruining the sport. Yet if an opposing player gently
slaps the face of one of our own, the outrage and indignation goes through the
roof.
He’s raised his hand! That’s a red ref! RED CARD REF!!
At the prospect of the
opposition being reduced to 10 men, suddenly the need for it to be a “man’s
game” becomes less important. There’s palpable short term gain over long term
honour.
What’s also interesting is
the perceived difference between what is essentially the same act – and I find this
one perhaps the most infuriating. In nearly every professional game you see,
you’ll come across players encouraging – verbally – the referee to dish out
yellow and red cards. And encouraging is the nice way of putting it. Players
are constantly telling the referee to book an opponent, imploring him to show a
red card for a nasty foul, desperately pointing out that someone’s already been
booked when they commit a subsequent offence.
This is apparently all part
of the game. You will never, ever, hear anyone complain about this, or a pundit
highlight this as unsporting. I lost count of the number of times I saw Ryan
Giggs begging a referee to get his notebook out during his playing career, yet
Giggs is widely proclaimed as a brilliant professional and all round great guy
(with everyone seemingly happy to overlook the fact he had a long-term affair
with his brother’s wife - but that’s a whole different story on double
standards…).
Yet the second a player,
conveniently nearly always one from foreign shores, dares to wave that
imaginary card – well, they are open to criticism and anger from all corners.
Pundits will be quicker to denounce this act as disgusting and unsporting than
Ashley Young is to fling himself over an outstretched leg in the penalty box.
Oops sorry, English players don’t dive.
“I HATE to see that – trying
to get other players booked”, growled Alan Shearer recently on Match of the
Day.
Shearer, never shy about directing
his elbow towards a centre back’s face in his own playing days, was also happy
to condemn Diego Costa for “crossing the line” in the Chelsea vs Arsenal game by
swinging his arm in a particularly Shearer-esque manner.
What it all ultimately seems
to come down to is that most players and fans essentially just really, really
want to win. So if it’s a choice between pointing out a red card offence to the
referee or minding your own business as that’s the more honourable thing to do
– well, there’s only ever likely to be one outcome.
Still, at least good old
English warriors always stay on their feet.
No comments:
Post a Comment